New York Media Thinks the Mets Should Land One of the Cubs Shortstops

Even before the trade between the Cubs and A’s was officially announced that added Addison Russell to the organization, the New York and national media started reporting that a deal between the Cubs and Mets would make sense. With the Cubs having too many shortstops and not enough pitching and the Mets needing a shortstop to fill a hole in its lineup could swap a pitcher for a shortstop. A perfect match for a deal that would surely happen in the near future, at least from the Mets point of view.

A report Sunday from the New York Daily News, before Starlin Castro hit the game winning home run in the ninth inning off Jenrry Mejia, stated Castro was the Cubs “most obvious trade chip” but the Mets would be “reluctant to give up one of their top young pitchers” for Castro. The Mets view Castro, according to the report, as “talented but flawed” and would “prefer” Addison Russell and “would also love to trade” for Javier Baez.

According to the report, John Harper’s sources do not think the Cubs would trade Javier Baez for Noah Syndergaard. Even though the Cubs are thought to like Syndergaard and have been scouting his starts with Las Vegas. The report states the Cubs “covet” Syndergaard but it is questionable the Cubs would trade Addison Russell for him.

According to John Harper and multiple reports from New York, the Mets are discussing internally if it would be better to hang to its pitching prospects and not deal for the position players on the team’s wish list.

The report from the Daily News indicated the Mets “surely would prefer” to trade Jon Niese, Dillon Gee or Rafael Montero, but the Cubs would want “one of the high-end guys” like Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard or Double-A southpaw Steven Matz. And the Mets would not consider dealing one of those pitchers unless it was for Addison Russell.

Joel Sherman reported the Mets and Cubs have discussed possible deals in the past “and will again this off-season” but right now neither team “wants to surrender its stronghold.” Sherman added that due to the fragile nature of a pitcher, the Mets would likely have to include more than just Zack Wheeler or Noah Syndergaard to acquire one of the Cubs shortstops. And due to the unwillingness of the Mets to trade its top-end pitching prospects, the Mets might have to set its sights lower than Starlin Castro, Addison Russell or Javier Baez and look at the Sox’ Alexei Ramirez or to the Diamondbacks for one of its two middle infielders.

The off-season rumors have begun … and the Cubs have 39 games left on the schedule.